alien Coating Water Beading @ the detailien HIVE

[seech]

We don't normally post pictures of the water beading properties of the detailien alien Coating as freshly coated cars should be given sufficient time to cure* instead of taking gratuitous water beading pictures immediately after coating.

*While Optimum recommends a minimum of 30 minutes after coating before it becomes rain-fast and safe for water to contact the surface, the Optimum Opti-Coat hardens progressively within 12 hours and continues to fully cure over the next few days depending on the weather.

Therefore we typically do not intentionally wet the surface just to take pictures of the water beading of the alien Coating.

Fortunately, we had a car that was recently coated at the detailien HIVE to capture some shots of the water beading.

Some reflections shots showing the depth and gloss of the alien Coating...

On to the water beading....

Water streaking off the coated surface...

alien Eggs on the roof...

The pictures below were originally posted here from one of our detalien Detailing Clinics:
ProDetailing: Detailing Clinic by detailien.com


After letting the Optimum Opti-Coat cure for just an hour. The test vehicle was pulled outside for the demonstration on the effectiveness of Optimum Opti-Coat in protecting the paint.

Optimum Power Clean was sprayed on the entire hood. Normal waxes and sealants would be removed after OPC but the Optimum Opti-Coat is not affected at all thereby providing a permanent protective layer on top of the original paint.

The left side protected with the Optimum Opti-Coat is completely unaffected despite being washed with the OPC.

The water beading is completely unaffected on the Optimum Opti-Coated side while the uncoated side has lost all of the water beading indicating that there is not longer any protective layer on top of the paint.

The following is a video on the water beading of the alien Coating:
Optimum Opti-Coat Water Beading (3 months) - YouTube

For more information do visit us at:

 

[muyo]

nice beading!!

 

[Veloc]

Lovely. And black is always the best to show depth!

 

[seech]

Yeah. Black is certainly nice for that mirror finish...

 

[artnet]

my opti coat has water marks that are not able to remove even
clayed and light polish done by the your team. which is kinda disappointing.

 

[muyo]

my opti coat has water marks that are not able to remove even
clayed and light polish done by the your team. which is kinda disappointing.

We dont have any Detailiens at Sarawak. Are you sure is us? Who?

 

[infinity.melvin]

hi bro, how much would it cost for this coating?? mind pm-ing me?

 

[Veloc]

my opti coat has water marks that are not able to remove even
clayed and light polish done by the your team. which is kinda disappointing.

Coatings are generally like that de lo... That is due to hydrophobicity. Have to give and take. With coatings, the paint is more resistant to marr, scratches, and oxidation but more prone to watermarks. Without coatings, watermarks not so bad but more prone to marrings, scratch and oxidation. Which one you prefer? For me, I prefer with coating. Those watermarks are not too bad and can be removed with an annual light maintenance polish.

 

[seech]

my opti coat has water marks that are not able to remove even
clayed and light polish done by the your team. which is kinda disappointing.

Watermarks are unfortunately a big problem in our part of the world with our frequent rainfall and also hot bright sunshine. The rainfall absorbs all sorts of contaminants from the air and lands on your cars paint. If there is bright sunshine after the rain, it is then baked dry onto the surface of the paint.

It would be useful to examine what are watermarks in the first place. There are basically two types of watermarks, one is an above surface watermarks which is caused by mineral deposits contained in the water drying on the surface of the paint and the other is caused by chemical etching from contaminants in the water itself eating into the paint surface. The first is easier to resolve as the deposits are above the paint while the second has eaten into the surface of the paint and can only be removed by compounding/polishing.

The severity of watermarks is definitely dependent on the environment which your car is driven, parked, etc. as some cars are affected by watermarks and others are not. Some cars have watermarks while others don't. It is more to do with the environment the cars are driven and parked in.

Living near an industrial or other polluted urban areas and parking your car outside all of the time does increase the chances of watermarks occurring.

This issues affects all paints as can be seen by the watermarks on this brand-new BMW F10 M5:

The watermarks were etched very deeply into the paint and had to be compounded to remove the watermarks and the original M5 paint was then protected with OptiCoat.

The original post can be found here:

detailien.com- Optimum Car Care Malaysia: ULTIMATE Driving Machine OptiCoated by the detailiens

The BMW F10 M5 owner wanted to protect his original paint with a protective layer of OptiCoat as instead of the watermarks etching into the original BMW paint as can be seen in the photos above, there is now a protective layer of OptiCoat on top of that which is harder, more chemical and scratch resistant protecting the precious original paint.

What about watermarks on coatings? The coating is also exposed to the same environmental conditions as the original paint and due to the hydrophobic nature of all the coatings, the water beading is much better than factory paint which may result in more watermarks as the beads are concentrated into a smaller area as they dry. Even this may not result in watermarks as it is highly dependent on the environment the car is driven and parked in.

The solution? Make sure that rain is not allowed to bake in and dry on the paint under the hot sunshine and wash your cars regularly. The coatings make it less likely for dirt to stick onto the coating but not if the dirt is left on for extended periods of time and left to bake into the coating like the watermarks.

What is the benefit of the coating then?

If watermarks only appeared on coated cars and did not affect uncoated cars then obviously the watermarks can be directly attributed to the coating itself. Obviously this is not true as there are plenty of uncoated cars which also suffer from severe watermark issues as can be seen in this post:

detailien.com- Optimum Car Care Malaysia: Extreme Watermark Correction and OptiCoating on a Honda Civic

So, what is the conclusion?

Watermarks will occur under certain environmental conditions irrespective of whether the car is coated. Leaving rain water to dry under hot, bright sunshine should be avoided especially if the car is coated due to the superior water beading of the coatings.

Aside from the benefits of coatings as stated above, coatings serve the function of protecting the original paint should any watermarks occur as these watermarks would otherwise have been etched into your original paint. Also, we have found that it is much easier to do a light polish to remove watermarks on coatings as compared with watermarks which have been etched into original factory paint.

Protect your investment and enjoy the superior protection, gloss, water beading, chemical and scratch resistance that a good quality coating has to offer....

 

[artnet]

i was not told about this watermarks b4 applying the coating. all i was told is how well it is...

 

[LesleyAprotto]

hi bro, how much would it cost for this coating?? mind pm-ing me?

Same question too....

Pls pm me too...

Tq:wavey:

 

[seech]

i was not told about this watermarks b4 applying the coating. all i was told is how well it is...

There is plenty of feedback on OptiCoat all over the Internet. It is one of the most documented of all coatings. Originating from the USA you can find plenty of comments in the detailing forums over there and based on all of the information that is readily available, it is indeed one of the leading automotive coatings. Granted, there are plenty of other coatings on the market but there is less freely available feedback from independent users.

Don't take my word for it, google it up and check it out.

As for the watermarks, certainly I do caution clients that want to apply OptiCoat that it is NOT impervious to watermarks but should any watermarks occur, it only affects the OptiCoat which can be lightly polished and even reapplied if required.

Think of it as an insurance for your original paint which permanently protects it from the environment, resist scratching better than factory clear coats and has superior water beading properties.

Do check out our website for more information about OptiCoat. We will continuously update our site with cars which have been detailed as well as with more information about OptiCoat and our services.